At least four policemen were martyred and as many others wounded after terrorists attacked a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat early Sunday morning, Aaj News reported.
“Terrorists hurled hand grenades, fired rocket launchers, and sprayed the Bargi Lakki Marwat police station with bullets,” police spokesperson Shahid Khan said.
The deceased were identified as Head Constable Ibrahim, Imran, Khairul Rehman, and Sabz Ali. All the casualties were shifted to the district headquarters hospital in Bannu.
A heavy contingent of police reached the site and started a search operation in the area.
The funeral prayers of the deceased police personnel were performed in the police line.
Bannu Regional Police Officer Ashfaq Anwar, DPO Lakki Marwat Ziauddin Ahmed, senior military, civil authorities and SP Investigation, including police officers and officials and local people attended the funeral.
“The blood of police martyrs will not go in vain,” Bannu RPO Anwar said as he hailed the services of deceased police officers.
Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan condemned the attack and offered his condolences.
He also asked the Inspector General Police for a report on the incident and directed that the injured police officials be offered the best medical care.
Pakistan has experienced a spike in militant attacks following the end of the ceasefire with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) last month.
The armed group has called off a shaky ceasefire agreed with the government in June and ordered fighters to stage attacks across the country.
TTP, a separate entity from the Taliban in Afghanistan, but sharing a similar ideology, has been responsible for hundreds of attacks and thousands of deaths since emerging in 2007.
They agreed to a truce earlier this year after Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers took a prominent role in brokering peace talks, but negotiations made little progress and there were frequent breaches.
In the year since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Pakistan has seen a 50 percent surge in militant attacks, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).
Lawmakers and business owners in northwest Pakistan have also told AFP that instances of TTP blackmail in the area have increased.